Editorial: Oregon needs better health care solution
Increasing hospital tax isn't the best answer to the problem
Editorial Board, Statesman Journal
May 28, 2011
It's unfortunate that legislators and hospitals couldn't agree on how to plug the gaping hole facing the Oregon Health Plan. Instead, legislators chose to unilaterally increase the tax that the state's 26 largest hospitals impose on themselves to support the health plan.
That hospital tax is used to match federal Medicaid dollars — a good deal for Oregon and the hospitals. For every dollar the state spends, the federal government adds about $1.60. In the aggregate, the hospitals receive more in OHP reimbursements than they pay in the tax.
The legislators' action this week will generate an additional $660 million to serve the 60,000 low-income Oregonians on the state health plan.
The bad news for hospitals, physicians and other providers is that the state will pay them about 11.5 percent less next year when they treat OHP patients. That reimbursement rate likely will drop even further the following year.
The good news is that Gov. John Kitzhaber originally proposed a 19 percent cut in OHP reimbursements, so health-care providers won't suffer as much as they might have.
But there's little positive to be said about this situation. The reality is that practically everyone connected to state government — from teachers to foster parents to hospitals — is facing cuts in compensation because of the state's budget situation. And each group, depending on how it presents the financial figures, can make a plausible case that it's being hurt disproportionately.
That includes taxpayers. Although their taxes won't go up to pay for OHP, they'll pay in a different way. Because government doesn't reimburse health-care providers for the full cost of treatment, much of that cost is passed along to people who have private insurance or pay out of their own pockets. That cost shift is one reason health insurers keep raising premiums.
Thus it's in everyone's best interest to embrace Kitzhaber's proposals for reducing treatment costs and to find a more stable, equitable way to pay for low-income care.
Link to the story: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011105280318
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